2014 Utah Outreach Campaign Day Eleven

When going door-to-door to share God's Word with others, you never quite know what to expect. Many times, you wonder if people are reading your literature. Then God surprises you.

A good example happened today. A Truth in Love missionary team had left flyers at homes where nobody answered the door. They crossed the street and began to go down another street. They turned around and saw an LDS woman carry one of our flyers while walking over to her next-door neighbor's house. We can only wonder what kind of conversation took place in that home.

A missionary team came across a woman who was battling with addictions. The woman expressed great sadness and loneliness since most of her neighbors avoided her house. They didn't want anything to do her, because she was not LDS. The missionaries were able to have a wonderful discussion on the biblical concept of grace.

Another missionary team came to the door of a woman who told the missionaries right away, "I'm LDS and I'm a lesbian." She expressed her dismay that the LDS Church has not accepted her sexual orientation. For now, she was perfectly satisfied with her eternal destiny. According to Mormonism, she will inherit the telestial kingdom -- the lowest of the three kingdoms. She said, "At least people can come down and visit me in the lower kingdom. I just can't go up and see them." An opportunity was given to the missionaries to share about what the Bible says about salvation, heaven and how to receive forgiveness of sin, plus introduce the first three chapters of Romans (God's opinion of homosexuality).

On the day before, two Christian women visited the Truth in Love missionaries during lunch. They shared about their life of growing up in a polygamous community. They also shared the miracle of how they came to faith in the real Jesus Christ. The missionaries not only received great encouragement from their story, but wonderful insight on how to share God's Word with Mormons. It is very effective to ask LDS questions about their faith. They love to talk. At the same time, it is very important to convey love. This is important because so many Mormons will agree with you on every topic. In this way, you can uncover the true teachings of Mormonism much quicker by letting them talk. Then, you can refer to their words instead of LDS sources when comparing what they said to what the Bible teaches.

A missionary team came to the door of a beautiful new house. The door did not open when they first rang the bell. They left a flyer and began walking to the next house. About halfway down the sidewalk, the woman of the home came to the door and called out, "Can I help you?" The Truth in Love missionaries came to her door to say they were Christian missionaries and asked if they saw any of the newspaper advertisements in the Davis County Clipper. After explaining the basic message of the website, they asked to talk about her faith. What does forgiveness mean to you? After respectfully listening, the missionaries said, "We have met many Mormons in the past few weeks and really appreciated how nice they have been. We really have grown to love the LDS people we have met. I think that we are providing an opportunity for our LDS friends for them to hear from Christians what Christians believe. I am sure you get frustrated hearing from non-LDS what the LDS Church teaches. Many Mormons have told me that they believe the same as I do. Well, let's talk about that."

It is amazing how appreciative Mormons are with this approach. Bridges are built to share what the gospel of Jesus Christ really teaches about salvation.

With this approach, the door was opened to talk about what it means for a Christian to say they are already forgiven in Christ. The woman asked, "What about serious sins? Are you forgiven for those?"

The missionary answered, "Faith receives the status of being forgiven because of what Christ has already done for us on the cross. Yet, we continue to sin. Faith prompts us to seek forgiveness and God immediately grants it. Obedience to live a God-pleasing life is prompted by love. Just like a desire to serve a family member, we are prompted by love to serve God. True love does not expect anything in return. This also describes our relationship with God."

It is joyful to share Scriptural truths with an LDS person that they have never considered before.

The conversation with the LDS woman was drawing to a close. The woman had to prepare herself for work and needed to pick up her daughter. The Truth in Love missionaries asked if they could remain in contact, but the woman declined. "I will always be a Mormon," she answered. "I also want to say that I appreciated your kindness and countenance." The missionaries asked if they could pray for her. Touched by the request, the LDS woman told them that she has a son serving in France as a Mormon missionary. It's been very tough. The people are responding very negatively to him, even spitting on him while riding a bus. They promised to pray for her son and left the house.

The missionaries continued to go door-to-door in the neighborhood. About forty-five minutes later, they were leaving a house when they saw a car running at the end of the driveway. It was the same LDS woman. She was waiting for them. She asked, "I wanted to find you, because I have some questions I need to ask you." She was specifically interested about learning what Christianity teaches about the Trinity. It was evident she was in a hurry, so an appointment was scheduled for the next day.